Talk:Magic schools (WoW)

I was always under the impression that School was something else though. Ie the Hunter has 3 schools: Beast Mastery, Marksman, and Survival. The Priest has Discipline, Holy, and Shadow... This seems to be more "Damage Type". Basically I always thought school meant which "Tab" the skill fit under when you look at your spellbook. Does anyone know the answer to this?

Gotcha, so is damage type a redundant entry? Because it's pretty much the same but it's funny to say your poison belongs in the Nature school, or that your flaming sword belongs to the Fire school. I guess we'll just leave the two as they are now?
--Spork 13:20, 26 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Holy magic apparently doesn't have a resistance indicator in character information,
but the game does track it. Case in point: Holy Protection Potion
(http://www.thottbot.com/?i=6643).

I just thought I should point out that the linked potion simply absorbs a set amount of Holy damage. As interesting as that is, it's not the same thing as increasing your Holy Resistance. Nor does it provide evidence that the game tracks a hidden holy resistance stat.

Just like Power Word: Shield doesn't increase your armor or resistances, it simply absorbs a certain amount of damage.

This is true, and it is also true that there are no items that give players Holy resistance. This doesn't mean, though, that there are no mobs with Holy resistance, or that it's impossible for a player or mob to white-resist a Holy spell just like any other spell. -- Gemminie 15:42, 20 February 2007 (EST)

The resistances in your character sheet is divided into schools. The divisions in your talent tree are called lines. There is indeed a 'Holy' school of magic even though your character sheet doesn't track a resistance against it. School and damage type is the same thing. See Thottbot[1]. --Zootsko 10:09, 21 March 2006 (EST)

For Priests, spells are pretty equally divided between Holy and Shadow -- obviously everything in the Holy line is of the Holy school, and everything in the Shadow Magic line is in the Shadow school, with Discipline spells of both schools. Then there is Starshards for NE Priests, as has been mentioned, which is Arcane.

For Druids, most spells are Nature, with a few very clear Arcane exceptions (Moonfire, Starfire, and Teleport: Moonglade). In animal forms, Druids have several Physical abilities as well.

For Shaman, most spells are Nature, although Fire-based spells (Shocks, Totems and weapon enhancers) are of the Fire school and Water-based spells are of the Frost school. Earth- and Air-based spells are all Nature.

For Paladins, absolutely all spells and special abilities are Holy. This is probably why there are no items that grant Holy resistance, as it would discriminate rather unfairly against one entire class, which is no longer limited to either Alliance or Horde.

For Rogues, almost everything is Physical, though Rogues' poison attacks are Nature, as is Envenom, which also involves poison.

The spells in the discipline page of a priest, are they all treated as holy spells? (And a few as shadow)
It seems so, since when being counterspelled from a holy spell, I get cooldowns on all my holy spells and most of my discipline spells.
I'm not a shadow priest ATM, but I remember that I was able to cast discipline spells while in shadow form even though shadowform doesn't allow holy spells to be cast.

So, are most discipline spells treated as holy, and shadowform not allowing spells from my holy "page" to be cast?

Shadowform only prevents use of abilities that are classified as holy through out the talent tree, not the spell school.
The priest shield, for example, is considered a discipline spell and even has a talent in the discipline tree, ergo it can be used in shadowform. Discipline is basicly like arcane so abilities like counterspell do not prevent the use of Mana Burn once spells like Mind Blast are countered.

That's not completely true. If Mind Blast is counterspelled, Mana Burn cannot be cast. The main point is: Counterspell effects lock out schools, Shadowform locks out a line. Sharshards is actually an arcane spell (counterspelling it will not counter any other of the Priest's spells). Inner Focus only has the visual of arcane spells, but is treated as holy. --bfx 02:38, 15 January 2007 (EST)

It has been found through tinkering on private servers that there IS holy resistance, but putting it in-game on items and such actually causes players to resist heal spells. This also points to the implication that druid and shaman heals are in fact holy spells with a different animation.
I removed this paragraph. Technically, there is a holy resistance of course, though it is not obtainable on real servers. However, I doubt that Nature heals are actually Holy spells, as they not only have a Nature animation, but are also considered Nature spells when affected by Counterspell effects. If that was true, any buff would need to be a holy effect, as those cannot be resisted. --bfx 10:17, 14 April 2007 (EDT)